Semifinals MVP: Yam Madar, Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv

The explosive guard led all semifinalists in PIR in helping his team reach the EuroCup Finals for the first time

After spectacular performances in the first two games of the series and gutting out some key plays despite a knee injury in Game 3, Yam Madar of Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv earned the honor of being the MVP of the BKT EuroCup Semifinals.

Madar finished with the highest PIR of any player in either semifinal series after averaging 16.3 points, 5.3 assists and 1.7 steals for a PIR of 20.7. He was the semifinals' leader in steals, ranked second in assists and tied for third in scoring.

The 24-year-old returned to Hapoel, which he first starred for as a teenager, during the season with the explicit goal of winning the EuroCup to claim a berth in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. And in the win-or-go-home semifinal series, he carried Hapoel at times.

In Game 1, Madar tallied 20 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists in a narrow loss before posting 21 points, 9 assists and 4 steals to lead Hapoel to a Game 2 victory.

Madar sustained a knee injury in that game and his participation in Game 3 was in doubt until the afternoon of the Game 3. He was quiet in the first half, but then contributed 8 points and 2 assists in the second to help Hapoel wrest away the game and series.

"I came back for this. I am the happiest person in the world," Madar told Israel Hayom, the EuroCup rightsholder in Israel after the game.

"I came to this game on one leg. I hoped I would be okay. I didn’t know how I would feel. I received a [painkiller] shot to be able to play… There were huge baskets. I think it was great that we knew as a team where to go. We didn’t panic.

"We got huge baskets from [Antonio] Blakeney and [Marcus] Foster and almost every time they responded within 7 seconds. We stayed focused and knew what we needed to do on offense. We trusted each other and that brought us the series and to the EuroCup Finals."